TED Talks Daily
What you discover when you really listen | Hrishikesh Hirway (re-release and interview) artwork

What you discover when you really listen | Hrishikesh Hirway (re-release and interview)

TED Talks Daily
50:20
Play episode

Show notes

“Every conversation has the potential to open up and reveal all the layers and layers within it, all those rooms within rooms," says musician and host of the beloved podcast Song Exploder, Hrishikesh Hirway. In this profoundly moving talk from 2022, he offers a guide to deep conversations and explores what you learn when you take that same kind of close listening we often give to music, and turn it toward people. A lot has changed for Hrishikesh since this popular talk was released, and after more than a decade helping other artists tell their stories and helping us think about listening in new ways, he's got a new solo album that just came out, called In the Last Hour of Light, which he describes as a memoir of sorts. Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily, caught up with him earlier this month to talk about his new album, how his ideas about listening have evolved since his talk, and what his own creative process looks like today. They also do a mini Song Exploder of sorts to take a peak into Hrishikesh's own songwriting process, breaking down one of the new songs on this album, "Things Change, Even Now," (co-written with Vagabon), which is shared in full at the end of the episode. This episode originally aired in 2022. The interview was recorded in April 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from this show

More
  1. How to make AI companies pay your energy bill | Ari Matusiak

    Climate expert Ari Matusiak spends his days working to rewire America's energy system, and he has an idea: instead of tech companies building new power plants for their AI data cen…

    15:10
  2. How to use tech to outsmart dictators | Leopoldo López

    In seven years as a political prisoner in Venezuela, activist Leopoldo López kept asking one question: Who holds the keys to freedom? Now the leader of an alliance of dissidents an…

    21:42
  3. Campaigns spend millions to influence voters. This works better | Katie Paris

    Katie Paris quit her career in Washington, DC, to figure out how to make politics feel less like strangers shouting at each other and more like friends looking out for each other.…

    13:22
  4. The wiggly wonder of music | Jacob Collier

    Grammy-winning musician Jacob Collier has a name for the feeling that moves through a great piece of music: the wiggle. Watch him break down the idea into its three parts — melody,…

    12:39
  5. How AI unleashed (not replaced) my creativity | Kelly A. Boesch

    After working for years in film, fashion and graphic design, visual artist Kelly A. Boesch found a new collaborator to work with: AI. She walks through how she uses the technology…

    08:50
  6. How to turn setbacks into success | Amy Shoenthal

    Success rarely happens in a straight line, with setbacks all but guaranteed along the way. What's the best way to recover? Leadership coach Amy Shoenthal lays out the four phases o…

    20:02
Now Playing
What you discover when you really listen | Hrishikesh Hirway (re-release and interview) — TED Talks Daily | Podcast | Josplay Music